2012-09-28
2012-10-06
x medicare

STATION
MSNBC 22
MSNBCW 22
CNN 9
CNNW 8
CSPAN 2
KGO (ABC) 1
WJLA 1
WMAR (ABC) 1
LANGUAGE
English 84

Set Clip Length:


took overor george w. bush in january of 2009. thasn ofne mattacks on e president. and now, it's off the table. romney isn't in a position where he can afford to lose any of his weapons. i think he's scrambling big-time. all the polls show that. on a personal note i can't wait for the debates. one of the lines bng used by reicrinohe conservatives is that mitt romney is just this great debater. i mean, he is a great debater. can somebody remind the american people, and i'll do it right now, that we have a smart guy on our side? president oba, let me remind you, is a fierce competitor. he will prepared. nohoisia he knows his accomplishments and he knows exactly where he wants to take this country. can you really say that about mitt romney? get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. night's question. can the president sustain this momentumor 40 days? tea" yteb" no to 622639. always go to our blog at ed.msnbc.com and leave a comment. we're joined by florida congresswoman, debbie wasserman-schuz, chair of the democratic national commite. congressman, good to have you withs

with a trend line similar it to george w. bush. the american people like him, but they're open to somebody better. mitt romney is now the next massachusetts guy who maybe was a flip-flopper in the past like john kerry. can he close the sale with the american people? this is a referendum on mitt romney all aalong. we already had a referendum on obama. it was the 2010 midterm elections. this is not about what happened in the next four years, but it's about who will do a better job for the next four years. romney needs to present something other than, jie, hasn't obama sucked? you cannot win like that. howard dean would be the democratic nominee and president of the united states if that was the case. you have to give people a reason to vote for you. >> steve, you make pay compelling argument there. the debates, perhaps, michael, the next opportunity and the last opportunity for mitt romney to make this case. both sides have elised memos. this is beth myers of the romney campaign. this is what she says in part. it's clear that president obama will use his ample rhett for cal gifts in debating

did in 2000 against george w. bush. >> that's not the way america's meant to be. >> and there, there's nixon with the flop sweat. george h.w. bush looking at his watch. appearances count, don't they? >> they really do. and a professional knows that. george h.w. bush in that debate, that third one in richmond in 1992, he was looking at his watch because he was trying to make the point that one of the other candidates had run over time. it didn't really compute this was sending the message that he was impatient, just the kind of message he didn't want to send. >> humor can be an effective tool, diffuse a weakness. >> i will not make age an issue of this campaign. i am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience. >> and at that moment, a lot of people said well, there's the ball game. including his opponent. >> including walter mondale. >> what do you think about humor as a tool in this debate tonight? >> you'd better be a very accomplished actor like reagan or else it probably won't work. in that case, reagan said certain things that might have give

george h.w. bush never once whined about process. you know why? because james baker told the press what they were going to be following. and he told the candidate what he was going to be doing. and every week the candidate did it. the message was unbelievable. but again, going on with charles krauthammer, for six months mitt has been matching obama small ball for small ball. a hit-and-run critique here. this is important. a hit-and-run critique here, a slogan of the week there. that's what we've been saying. sam stein, there is no over arching message, no reagan message, no thatcher message, no george h.w. bush message in 1988. it's small ball. you have a libyan embassy blow up. you push him out the next morning and do something that even the romney campaign now understands was an absolute disaster. the president makes a faux pa about a bump in the road which was a stupid thing to say but they obsess over that. they say this is the message. this is how we're getting people back to work and change the economy clearly they're chasing after news headlines trying to win the day. >> that is

al gore was debating george w. bush in 2000, al gore, the vice president of the united states, was seen as a great debate, george w. bush not so much. but then al gore, you know, had some fumbles and in terms of the sighing he did and a lot of people were paying attention to that. and bush all of a sudden looked a whole lot better. these debates can be significant for relatively trivial things like that, if, for example, and you remember when the first president bush, george h.w. bush, you know, at one of the presidential debates started looking at his watch and it looked like he was ready to move on. let's get out of here, already. that hurt him, i think, in his re-election bid against bill clinton back in 1992. it is part of the game. it is what goes on. but i think these debates are going to be really, really important for that, 6%, 7%, 8% who are legitimately undecided or switchable, haven't completely made up their minds. they're going to be watching the three presidential debates, the one vice presidential debate in october. and they'll make up their minds. i think all t

that could up in voting rights and same-sex marriage. >> and you can see george w. bush's impact on those issues. in 2003, justice o'connor browr, diversity is a legitimate goal and the case you're going to hear, the fisher case out of the university of texas, is a direct challenge to that and a threat to affirmative action in public universities but it could lead essentially to the death of affirmative action and and you covered in this book, and i'm reading it, very good book, that a lot of the behind the scenes back and forth around the affordable health care act when it went before the court and people were stunned, i among them, when john roberts voted and you write in the book and i want to read, this is out of the book, quote, by demanding that roberts kill our entire health care law, the four conservative justices prompted them to look for some kind of middle ground. roberts felt obligated to protect the institutional interests of the court, not just his own philosophical agenda. now, doing that, he uncost merrily went against the conservatives, members of the court. >> he certain

. president obama had two appointees. george w. bush had two appointees. bill clinton had two. but there could be a bunch in a hurry. justice ginsburg is the most likely to leave. and if president obama wins, that wouldn't change the balance of five republicans and four democrats. but if the five-to-four balance shifts, you could see dramatic dramatic changes in the court. it all depends on who >> do you simply assume president obama would name someone like sonja sot ma yor or clarence thomas for that matter? can you just assume those would be the possibilit probabilities if you will? >> that is precisely what i would assume. you know, there's a mythology about the court that presidents often areurprised by how their justices turn out. but you know, that is very much the exception rather than the rule. if you look at the justices currently on the court right now, every single one of them has turned out more or less as re there are individual cases, there are surprises. i certainly was surpred by roberts' vote in the affordable care act case. hatlarge presidents w you e is what you get. iden yo

forward to 1982. george h.w. bush was on the ropes over bill clinton when casper weinberger was imply indicated in the iran/contra scandal shortly before election day. bad news for bush that he did not need. in 2004 a classic october surprise. osama bin laden released a video on october 29th just four days before election day in a raz orthin race between president bush and john kerry. three years after 9/11 it served as a reminder of the terrorist threat and strategists in both parties believed helped president bush. more recently the term october surprise has come to mean a seismic event in the fall of an election year though most have centered around foreign policy others have been about the economy like in 2008. when the economy imploded, john mccain's advisers say his campaign collapsed along with it and never recovered. historians say in order for an october surprise to have a real 11th hour impact it has to feed into a narrative that already exist, whether it's carter's ineffectiveness or questions about mccain's credentials on the economy. >> it's not so much that suddenly eure

's funny and humorous as well. even george w. bush was good at that in 2004 and 2000. the question is whether mitt romney can connect with the american people. most know he can do the job. the question is that likability factor and whether or not you quote-unquote want to have a beer with him. >> mitt romney showed a tough side with rick perry last year. >> i'm looking forward to finding your facts on that. >> the facts are -- >> rick, i'm speaking. i'm speaking. >> i'm wondering, do you think the obama campaign will have something up its sleeves it to get under romney's skin? do those moments make people uncomfortable, or do they say, well, you know what? he's got a little feistiness in him? >> i think that the president should really consider this an opportunity to talk with the american people about how, you know, his vision of leadership. talk directly about his policies. you know, his strategies to move the country forward. i don't think he should get -- my own advice is he shouldn't get into getting under romney's skin or having a back and forth, et cetera. this is a serious,

under water. the lowest for any presidential nominee at this point in time other than george h.w. bush in 1992. romney is out with his second straight to camera ad in the direct effort to undo damage of the remarks. >> more americans live in poverty than when president obama took office. we should measure our compassion by how many fellow americans are able to get good paying jobs and not how many are on welfare. >> look at these numbers. by a whopping 51 to 28 voters say what they have heard about romney has made them feel more unfavorably there is still a few yellow flags for the president. more people disapprove of how he has handled the situation in libya and egypt than approve. if you want to understand why the president is leading look at this number, economic optimism. 57% now believe the economy is recovering. that number is up six points in just the past few weekz. ultimately this race will be won in nine battleground states. florida, virginia, and ohio romney is tight in the races with the states of fluidity, florida and virginia. in florida obama and romney are neck and neck

process for george h.w. bush and bill clinton. he's a political analyst for msnbc. we're glad to have you, ambassador ross. we've seen never a speech like this at the u.n. by such a key, prominent leader. here's what tom brokaw said with it on "the daily rundown." >> think what they would say if president obama did something like or george w. bush or if mitt romney had made a speech and held up that kind of bomb and drew the line across it. it kind of boggles the mind, quite frankly. >> ambassador, what if this had been an american president doing something like this? >> well, i think obviously there's a certain backdrop to what happened during the whole question of -- during the bush administration of iraq. i think this was a kind of graphic way of trying to show something. would an american president do that at the u.n.? it's an open question. is it effective? if you're trying to explain an issue people have heard about, when you reduce it to something that makes it rather clear and tends to simplify it, it at least tends to clarify what you're talking about. i think what prime minister

? whatever else you say about george w. bush, he was very good at pretending to be the sort of down home, you know, texas guy that you could have a beer with. remember, that was his great act, and ronald reagan before him did the same thing. bill clinton, lord knows, that's what it was all about with that guy. and this guy, i mean, can't do it at all. by the way, that's also the magic of the tea party movement. >> can't you imagine having some caviar with mitt romney? bellinis? >> with special spoons you have to eat it with. it can't be silver. it's got to be whatever it is. i'm sure mitt romney can tell you all about it. he just can't switch it on. not only that, this is the republican party and conservatism generally has been coasting on this notion, this sort of populist aura that hoverses around them and he's the opposite, you know. he's -- i was reading this great story in "rolling stone" the other day by matt taibbi about how mitt romney is like all of the terrible movie villains of the last 30 years. you know, he's the rich fraternity boy that's such a snob to the guys in animal house,

. president george w. bush. >> if the republicans want to defend the bush administration's response to katrina i'm sure the president would give them his time during the debate. >> as long as we're talking about troublesome videos this clip of congressman paul ryan weighing in on the makers and the takers rose to the surface last night as well. >> before too long we could become a society we were never ever intended to be. we could become a society where the net majority of americans are takers not makers. 70% of americans get more benefits from the federal government in dollar value than they pay back in taxes. so you could argue that we're already passed that tipping point. the good news is, survey after survey, poll after poll, still shows that we are a center right 70/30 country. 70% of americans want the american dream. they believe in the american idea. only 30% want the welfare state. >> which video is more sensat n sensational? more of a game-changing contest modifier. joining us from the site of tonight's debate in denver is the man who knows from game change, emmy darling, "time" ma

own polling, but in the end, george w. bush still won. and this election's going to be decided in the end based on how those last undecided persuadable voters fall and based on who does a better job of getting their vote to the polls and that's what will decide the outcome. >> cornell, i mean, i heard what you said before, but i got to i guess, the more i think about it, i got to push back more on this because even the president's final statement at the end, which is something i assume is the most easy thing to rehearse, at the end it seemed kind of like he was like well, i'll keep trying. i think -- i don't want to -- i'm paraphrasing it that way. >> anderson, i don't think that's fair at all. two things here. one is i've got to push back on one of the things. the predicate that you just laid out about sort of why mitt romney had such a great performance about how he was factually on health care, the critique of the president's health care was a flat-out lie. the government takeover of health care, every fact checker in the world has said that's just not true. the idea that yo

political distraction for some reason. tony fredo is a former spokesperson from george w. bush. he tweeted out that the bureau of labor statistics is not manipulating data. evidence of such would be actually a scandal of enormous proportions and a loss of credibility. that's what he is saying but influence sal voices are saying the books are cooked, zachary. is that possible? >> i suppose anything is possible, but the layers of security under these numbers, they're released under lockdown. there's intense security around them, but it would be of watergate proportions. for people who don't want the numbers to trend, i suppose in a somewhat positive trend -- john harwood is not, this is not hos ana hosana is it's absurd and a complete distraction from what the report says and what's happening in the economy. >> john harwood gave excellent perspective. these numbers are not a celebration. this is a continuing story line. the economy is struggling to get on its feet. why would you have congressman alan west and others say that the books are cooked when you could secertainly just point to the f

and a lot in the media treat president obama like he's the challenger. what president george w. bush did when he was governor of texas is said i want to reduce taxes across the board and i want to make sure we have a balanced budget. he wasn't very specific during the campaign, and when he became president, he released a series of principles that went to capitol hill that said these are the measures that meet my -- >> here is the problem with that though, ron. people who have assessed his mathematics have deemed them to be completely impossible. michael, this is just in from mitt romney on how he'll pay for his massive 20% across the board tax cut. take a listen. >> everybody is going to get up to a $17,000 deduction and you can use your charitable deduction or your home mortgage deduction or others, health care deduction, and you can full that $17,000 bucket and higher income people might have a lower number. or you could do it by the same method that boll/simpson did by limiting deductions. >> it's bucket and spades and he'll work it out with congress. is that a plausible response? >>

at this next debate. this was an image from senator kerry taking on an incumbent president, george w. bush and say by simply showing up, the challenger has a lot to gain. >> yeah, when they stand on the same stage as the president of the united states, then you basically become almost an equal at that point in time, and that race went from a seven-point lead to a one-point lead in 48 hours, and that's what the challenger was able to do. john kerry won it and took the race to almost even within two days. >> so a big opportunity for mitt romney this week. >> a huge opportunity for mitt romney. he could take this race in the states that he's losing right now and change the dynamic of this race just by standing on stage and performing well. >> so much riding on it. this first debate, viewers, anywhere between 50 million, 60 million viewers are the estimates. this year more important than ever the early voting that's taking place. >> early voting has taken place in key states like iowa right now and voters willing watching now, and voters are going to be wanting this. they're already voting, an

. george w. bush, ronald reagan in '84, george h.w. bush in '92, the president didn't seem to be on his game. mitt romney made a surprise appearance to a cpac event in denver still courting the conservatives but say if you know people that voted for president obama, tell them to come on over to our side. that's ironic because i don't imagine he knows many conservative republicans who voted for president obama the last time or plan to this time. nevertheless, you're no fan of governor romney. did you become a fan last night as a conservative who has doubted his credibility from the minute he entered this race? >> well, i think my credentials as a non-romney show are pretty well secured. i have good street cred for your audience. frankly, i thought mitt romney did the best job of advancing even a modicom of viewpoints and stepping up on a national stage than like when al gore invented the internet. mitt romney, unlike john mccain, mitt romney wants to win the presidency, and a lot of conservatives have asked themselves that question the past couple of weeks. i think frankly liberals ought

. >> mika, as we've been saying for some time both on and off the air, if the president was george w. bush and he had said that the middle east going up in flames was a, quote, bump in the road, george w. bush would have been absolutely skewered by the press. >> at the same time, is it fair to say that the romney campaign and mitt romney himself have seized upon things too quickly and almost looked a little almost like a dog pulling on someone's leg? >> they've been hand-fisted. >> let me ask you this. >> they made a mistake. in fact, even internally inside the romney campaign, they know now that the libyan press conference, the day after, they will all tell you, was an absolute mistake, and that showed up in the polls. >> here's my question, then. because congressman peter king is calling on susan rice to step down, to resign as u.s. ambassador to the u.n. and yesterday, here's the response as they try and move forward and turn the majpage. congressman paul ryan and paul mccain. take a look at this approach. >> the response was slow. it was confused. it was inconsistent. they first said t

that in 1984, reagan's first debate was a disaster. george w. bush's debate was a disaster. i don't think it will be a disaster. but you saw on the univision interview. when you are abe incumbent president you are not used to being challenged. bill: what do you think the impact of a potential exchange like we just watched will have on this 15% rasmussen is talking about? >> rich is right. it depends on what it is. there was another debate moment in 2008 that seemed to change the trajectory a little bit. remember when hillary was told people don't like her and she said that hurts my feelings and it was kind of like funny, self-deprecating moment, and it seemed to move women voters in a way. you can't ever really know. there could just be some sort of moment that moves people in a certain direction, though. i think the bigger issue is mitt romney making people feel like i'm a goodall tern tough to obama. you are not that happy with him or you wouldn't be undecide or persuadable. but i'm safe. i'm somebody you can trust with the future. bill: the audience is enormous. 50 million americans wi

card is a former white house chief of staff under president george w. bush, and he's with me now. andy, so now the administration is going silent on it, saying we're not going to respond to this bombshell report out of congress that this is from the house oversight committee saying that they've got a bun p of whistleblowers who are now saying they were begging for more security other in libya at our consulate and not only was it not provided, but jason chafe fess was on fox news saying it had been downgraded, security had been diminished in part, and that, he says, was the prelude to the 9/11 attack which then, of course, resulted in four dead americans and evolved into this strange place, andy can, where now we've got reports that a dozen, a dozen intelligence reports went up to administration officials saying this is terror, it was an al-qaeda-linked group. and five days after they send susan rice on the round of sunday talk shows. what is going on here? >> well, it's all very troubling to me. first of all, if, in fact, we were asked to beef up the security at our consulate in bengha

was homeland security advisor during the george w. bush administration, as we often point out, she currently serves on the cia's external advisory committee and recently traveled to libya with her employer, mcandrews and forbes. she had actually met with ambassador stevens. what do you make of the pictures you see of what arwa's talking about? >> as i listen to arwa, it just reinforces what we said last week and we've said from the beginning. investigators have to go there, even if you didn't have all the physical evidence there that arwa just described to our viewers, you would want to know from the witness interviews, anderson, you would want to know measurements, you would want to be able to take people through it to really understand what the dynamic was. but then you see things like handprints and blood samples. one of the things, the first thing you would do, i'll give you an example, that is you would take the blood sample off the toilet and the bidet and see whether or not it matched first to the ambassador's. did he fall? there's all sorts of things you would want to know. you know,

of george w. bush and the republicans who were in office prior to the democrats taking control in 2009, so we need time to fix it, and by the way, the president will also say that he wants to increase taxes on people like mitt romney to help pay down some of that debt. >> reporter: we just put of that graphic there showing the $16 trillion of debt and there are so many digits it almost doesn't fit on the tv screen across the screen there, as you can see. but haven't americans in some way become number to astronomical numbers? how serious is this in. >> they have become number. is it the new normal this massive spilling of red ink but it raises three problems which i don't think the nation has got even to grips with yet. number one our economy is smaller than our debt. we look like europe, we know what happened there. number two we are spending $9 billion every week just paying interest on this debt, about a quarter of it goes overseas. and number 3, we are paying for this debt by printing money. so here is the question, allison, what happens when we stop printing as we inevitably will at s

for the president as bad a performance add george w. bush had in his first debate against john kerry. >> the president had an opportunity tonight. he created a problem for himself on social security tonight. he agrees with mitt romney. every liberal in this country knows that mitt romney wants to privatize social security down the road. and to do a deal with the devil on that would be the wrong thing to do. i think the president created a big problem for himself. i don't think he explained himself very well on the economy. i thought he was off his game. i was stunned tonight. rash elyou just mentioned about time, the president needs to get in and fight for that time. there's people that expect him to fight for that time. >> i thought the one thing that mitt romney did tonight that he has not done for the duration of the campaign and was very effective was just lop off the right wing of his party. he didn't care about them tonight. if something was popular, more money for community schools, he was for that. it didn't matter if it would make the right wing, how. whenever the president

. that was the moment in 1992 then president george h.w. bush looked at his watch during the debate with bill clinton and ross perot. want to talk to dean, a stand-up comedian, writer, and, of course, contributor. dean, you know performing. you have studied these two guys. you write in your blog the candidates who are funny in the debates tend to get elected. what do you think? either one of these guys going to get a laugh? >> i think they're going to try. i'll be honest with you. let's be honest, you don't need a political consultant to tell you, if you make people laugh, you're creating a bomb with them. you're getting an organic disorderly action. they're laughing and they're feeling more warm to you, and i think it's a thing that's overlooked by mft candidates. i think look at ronald reagan's joke. classic. he used it. he destroyed an issue and made himself more likable at the same time. >> do they need to go in with a strategy to be funny, because sometimes when you plan these things and you bomb, it looks even worse. >> i can tell you, i have told many jokes that have bombed in my career. i can

participated in the most general election debates? the answer, george w. bush. there were three presidential debates in 2000 and three in 2004. gives bush the record number of debate appearances at six. the elder president bush and bill clinton both did five general election debates. an honorable mention for a nonpolitician goes to pbs's jim lehrer. this year will be his 11th appearance as a moderator of a presidential debate. barack obama, assuming we go through all three debates will tie bush for that record six. [ male announcer ] after years of celebrations, marie callender's gives you a way to make any day a special occasion. new mini cream pies for one. real whip cream and a cookie-crumb crust. marie callender's. it's time to savor. [ male announcer ] jill and her mouth have lived a great life. but she has some dental issues she's not happy about. so i introduced jill to crest pro-health for life. selected for people over 50. pro-health for life is a toothpaste that defends against tender, inflamed gums, sensitivity and weak enamel. conditions people over 50 experience. crest pro-healt

't be an awkward one that sinks their campaign. recall 1992 when president george h.w. bush checks his watch during a debate with then-candidate bill clinton. the gesture gave voters the impression that he was impatient and uninterested. during the 2000 presidential debates, al gore got up in governor george w. bush's grill. look. [laughter] just a classic moment where he was invading his personal space a little, and, boy, did he take some flak. mr. bush gave him a nod and kept talking. in one of the more unusual moments during the vice presidential debates in '92 between republican dan quayle, democrat al gore and the third party running mate of ross perot who was admiral james stockdale, there was this moment. >> admiral stockdale, your opening statement, please, sir. >> who am i? [laughter] why am i here? [laughter] [applause] megyn: he was totally charming and likable but also got a lot of criticism for his performance in that debate, and, you know, his family later came out and said they thought it was unfortunate because they thought it changed his legacy, and he was a very honorable man. in

for a while, then he might become as popular as george w. bush because shock, horror, as it stands now, the former president is actually more popular than mitt romney, though they're both, as they say, underwater. what do you think? >> well, perhaps that could work but it's an inconvenient time for romney to disappear given that there's this election in a few weeks. however, he does keep disappearing. he keeps leaving the campaign trail to do these fund-raisers. one asks again what are they thinking in boston, what are they doing in boston, why are they running the campaign this way? and in the end the campaign comes down to the candidate. i mean, you can't blame it on the consultants. you can't blame it on the people around him. tough hold the candidate accountable for the way the campaign is being run. >> to be fair, eugene, you have been holding him accountable throughout all of your columns. >> i was just going to say mitt romney at this point might as well go down to the cayman islands where former president shall is appearing at an investor conference -- >> four days before the e

president only once when george w. bush won it in 2000. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. monarch of marketing analysis. with the ability to improve roi through seo all by cob. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. i'm going b-i-g. [ male announcer ] good choice business pro. good choice. go national. go like a pro. >>> welcome back to "hardball." after initially urging him to drop out, more and more republicans are now endorsing todd akin out in missouri in that senate race against claire mccaskill. today former senator kid bun gave his endorsement but only weeks ago bond and other top republicans urged him to get out of the race saying these comments by akin were disqualifying. >> it seems to me, first of all, from what i understand from doctors, that's really rare. if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> that sounds like a crack pot there. anyway, after the deadlin

debates seemed to shift the outcome of the race. in 2004 george w. bush went up against al gore. in gore's case, a strategist thought he lost that debate in the spin room. so i wonder, matt, how much of this is decided by what the candidates actually say? and how much by the pundits the day after? >> i give the american people some credit. i think they can listen and watch. and most evidence has shown that people start paying attention maybe around the conventions. they pay a lot of attention in the debates as well. what romney has to do is to get people who don't think obama has earned a second mandate, he's got to get them to think he deserved to replace him. there is room to make that case. i don't think he's made that case so far, but we're talking about tinkering around the margins. i think both sides are going to -- democrats are going to vote democrat, republicans will vote republican. >> and john mccain who knows more than a little bit about what it's like to be in a presidential debate had this take on "morning joe" today. >> i think for us to raise the expectation, he's got to

gerson, "washington post" columnist and former speechwriter for george w. bush. you helped prepare president bush in 2000 and 2004 for his debates. what are the particular challenges for the two contenders as you see it today? >> we saw it in 2004 that the president had not involved in debating the whole primary season in the obama scenario. >> mitt romney has been throwing punches and receiving them in over 20 debates. i think that probably helps. if you look at the univision forum that president obama just did, he got fairly softball questions and he had a shaky performance. that should be a wake-up call for the obama team. they must be recommeally focuse this. that is an advantage for romney coming into this. he has the biggest disadvantage as well which is he has ground to make up, has to do something not just play defense, which i think the president can do more of. >> senator mccain who's been there, done that was asked about it today. >> first thing is you don't want him to say something stupid. >> right. >> but you're -- >> first do not harm. >> exactly. >> yeah. >> but sec

of debate performance than george w. bush. >> slightly. >> slightly. so i agree with you. i think that there's a lot of folks in the media that want to come out on thursday morning and say, mitt romney won this debate. he's back in the game. the race is close. let's see what happens in the polls. i just have a hard time seeing mitt romney really being able to deliver the goods that he hasn't been able to deliver for six years now running for president. >> when you talk to people, you know who are strategists and inside the campaigns, is it really possible for people to block out the noise and not pay attention to the media and not be aware like you're losing by three, four, five points and things are getting dire, doesn't that sort of impact the campaign? we're losing. it's not going our way. >> it does. i think ordinarily. but i have not seen a campaign like this one which has an extraordinary ability to block out what the media is saying. we've talked before about the romney campaign being very closed to media. being very disciplined. doing things their way. we all sometimes question it. a

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assistant to george w. bush. santita let me start with you. americans are very unhappy with the economy, the president says he's unhappy too. is his challenge to explain how the next four years would be any different? and if you look at his convention speech i'm not sure there is any difference. >> you know i think that his great challenge is the same challenge that governor romney faces tomorrow night, which is to be relaysable an rerelatable and likable. likability really does matter. gregg: you don't think people really want specifics, tell me mr. president how the next four years is any different. >> you know, gregg you have to balance style with substance. the fact is they'll have to run against their narrative in a time of great economic want. you've got a very, very wealthy man who is running. i'm not saying he can't relate to the poor but governor romney is going to have to do that. president obama is someone who is prove sore kwral and known for his excellence. gregg: insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. the president has been describ

debate in 1992, george h.w. bush deliberately looks at his watch and pays for it when the audience and voters see it as disrespectful. >> there are differences. >> reporter: body language makes a difference in a debate between al gore and george w. bush as well. gore sighs over and over again and bush surprises by winning the debate and the election. both president obama and governor romney are seasoned debaters, and expertes say neither are prone to making major gaffes. but if there is one thing that history has taught us when it comes to presidential debates, expect the unexpected. anderson cooper, cnn. >>> once again, the night is tomorrow, the president versus his challenger, face to face, special coverage begins at 7:00 eastern, right here on cnn and on cnn.com. >>> a lot more news developing this hour. watch this. america's top guy in afghanistan says he will not allow troops to be murdered. but do these insider attacks mean a change in strategy is coming? i'm brooke baldwin. the news is now. >>> one pilot calls it embarrassing. seats coming loose on a major airline. is this

george w. bush. how close to a reality could is be? >> hard to tell pop probably not the concern many have. remember, as your teaser said, the obama administration did want to close guantanamo within a year and move the detainees to the states. but it was pelosi and harry reid who said you can't use any federal funds to move guantanamo detainees to the united states and you can't use funds to buy or rehab a facility in the united states. jamie: why acquire it? >> there is overcrowding in some federal facilities. this is a well-built relatively new facility. it's been sitting dormant. i take them at their word that they want to utilize it to ease overcrowding and to bring jobs to the area. but the scepticism that some have is that the obama administration will make an end run around federal law, democrats and republicans, and try to close gitmo on the chief. jamie: there is so much overcrowding of the state prisons that the governor is releasing some prisoners locally that should potentially be behind bars, residents of illinois may argue. why not leave that opportunity or even assist

to president george w. bush. he's also a contribute r-r. fox news contributor. good to have you here this morning. the headline number is one that has to make them very happy at the white house this morning. >> it has to make them happy, not very happy. 114 new jobs created, a thousand more than anticipated. that's also less than what is called the replacement rate. we need about 140, 150,000 new jobs a month just to stay even. that's how many new people enter the workforce each month, and so i think we're going to see a major response by the president. we won't see him doing black flips on the campaign trail, he will be very measured about this because you can't sort of puff this number up when the anxieties that people have about the economy are deep and dark. martha: i was talking to chris wall as about that. the economy is an individual experience. you think things are getting better and you know if you have a full time or part time job. you have a white board with you this morning. let's point out some things on that. >> let's remember this. president obama on three measures hav

about this. it is just like being in denial. >> we did not go through the decade of george w. bush and the last four years of rock obama, but what they have had to deal with, in fairness, is 9/11, a couple of wars that require a lot of spending, the tax cuts of george bush -- i am not sure where you stood on those, but they did eat into the amount of money we had to spend -- and then the recession, which was some say close to a depression. did that time prevent us from being able to make deficits and debt a top priority? >> it should not have. it could have, but it should not have come out if people were thinking clearly, if they were well educated, if they even understood this whole damn thing, which they do not. if you say what percentage of the american people understand this, i would say it is a very low number. it to be everybody, and everybody should say this is my country. people should be very active about not letting anything damaged our country. the one thing we have not mentioned at all, there is no question at all in my mind, if we keep going this way, some nation is go

being in denial. >> we did not go through the decade of george w. bush and the last four years of rock obama, but what they have had to deal with, in fairness, is 9/11, a couple of wars that require a lot of spending, the tax cuts of george bush -- i am not sure where you stood on those, but they did eat into the amount of money we had to spend -- and then the recession, which was some say close to a depression. did that time prevent us from being able to make deficits and debt a top priority? >> it should not have. it could have, but it should not have come out if people were thinking clearly, if they were well educated, if they even understood this whole damn thing, which they do not. if you say what percentage of the american people understand this, i would say it is a very low number. it to be everybody, and everybody should say this is my country. people should be very active about not letting anything damaged our country. the one thing we have not mentioned at all, there is no question at all in my mind, if we keep going this way, some nation is going to head over here to take us

, john sununu, former new hampshire governor and chief of staff to president george h.w. bush, now a top adviser to the romney campaign. governor, i know you're not going to be shy, so how do you think he did? are you pleased by the performance he's gotten rave reviews universally. >> what people saw last nigh, i think, was a president that revealed his incompetence, how lazy and detached he is, how he has absolutely no idea how serious the economic problems of the country are, and how he has failed to even begin to address them. and i think even the liberal press reacted with shock at this revelation, and i find it fascinating now this morning, after they've slept, to watch them all scrambling around to clean up the mess the president left on the floor last night. on the other hand, mitt romney came in with a lot of specifics, a lot of very sharp knowledge of issues not only with the obama version of bumper sticker numbers, but the governor showed that he understands policy and he understands how to make policy into law, talking about what he did in massachusetts. >> governor, i want to

men are friends. joining us, matt slap, former white house political director in the george w. bush administration. good to see you. respond, first, to the criticism and the accusations here that this is a political stunt here. you have the president who is already talking to yet raw hnet why is romney on the phone with netanyahu? >> i think it is totally appropriate for netanyahu to talk to the opposition government leader here in this country this is something that is standard protocol. quite frankly i think mr. netanyahu knows that his relationship with america is incredibly important and i think it is clear he has concerns with the obama administration and how reliable a partner they're going to be on stopping iran from acquiring the material they need to make a nuclear weapon. and i think the relationship is close. it is important. i don't think we're overdra mat sizing what happened today. >> what was the phone call about? can you tell me? do you have a read in on it? >> i don't. it just happened literally moments ago. it could actually still be happening. and i think it would

sununu, former chief of staff under george h.w. bush. good to have you on. thank you. as for the president, the campaign says mr. obama did what he set out to do. >> was he satisfied with his performance? >> well like i, i've said before, presidents never is satisfied with his performance. he is always challenging himself and he will, this, he will review it. if he wants to make some changes in the next debate he will do so. what he was satisfied with that he went and told the american people the truth and i think is fairly well-convinced that governor romney didn't meet that standard. jon: so to be fair and balanced here is ben labolt, the obama for america national press secretary. let me read you a quote from maggie haberman at "politico". >> sure. jon: post-debate the president's campaign was spinning valiantly in the media center that no mistake among democratic operatives here and in other states that obama blew it. if that is the thinking of the mainstream media, how do you try to counter that notion? >> well, listen, governor romney delivered a great work of p

. and in 1988 george h.w. bush was down at this point in september by about seven. gregg: you know, i mentioned to our viewers a moment ago the coal industry which is very important to pennsylvania. here's a headline from one newspaper in july, and it reads: pennsylvania coal companies announce layoffs. and the executives blame the policies of president obama and his epa. look, is that having an impact at the polls? >> it very well -- it probably will. i mean, you know, the polls are what they are, but there's a lot of people are angry and upset at the obama administration policies and what it's doing to coal. listen, there's a -- the southwest part of the state, a very coal-dependent economy. now, cross-cutting against that is, as you know, the obama campaign has been really forceful in portraying mitt romney as like this rich, you know, out of touch plutocrat -- gregg: right. >> -- private equity guy, so there's cross-pressures on a lot of these guys between, you know, like, anger over what's happening to coal and also manufacturing. gregg: yeah. >> and sort of a, you know, there -- they're b

, george h.w. bush, ross perot, they were the candidates at the time, and she said the town hall style doesn't allow -- specifically she saiding for a female moderator to ask some of the tough questions because it really is just kind of passing the mike from person to person. what do you think of that, what her critique? >> i'm not sure what the -- actually i have carol's debate on a dvd in my office, and i was going from the most recent. i have seen charlie gibson, and -- this debate has -- once the table is kind of set by the town hall questioner, there is then time for me to say, hey, wait a second. what about x, y, z? you said this or you said that. you're sort of the -- they launch the discussion, and then the moderator furthers the discussions as you said this and now you say that. that kind of thing. we hope that kind of group effort can pin down both of these men on a variety of issues. >> and watching the last debate, candy, what do you take away with that in terms of how both of these candidates reacted to jim? is there anything that you learned from it or that you saw that y

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